


Warm drinks for warm hearts

by V0ID115



Category: Original Work
Genre: Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Winter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-19
Updated: 2019-07-19
Packaged: 2020-07-08 15:00:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19871536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/V0ID115/pseuds/V0ID115
Summary: After a long day facing gusty winter winds at work, nothing beats having something hot to warm yourself up.





	Warm drinks for warm hearts

The wooden door creaks open, letting a gusty wind and some snowflakes in. Sylvia leaves the dirty dishes on the counter for her assistant to pick up, much to his displeasure, and turns around to greet the all too familiar customer.

“Ulysses! It’s been a while!” She perks up upon seeing the sniffling adventurer, as he takes off his heavier cloak and sits on a stool facing the counter.

“Good-” A sneeze interrupts him. “Afternoon, Sylvie.”

“Gesundheit!” A worn voice yelled from the middle of the saloon.

“Thanks, Peter.” Ulysses turned around to greet the aged men too preoccupied with his paper to raise his head.

The sound of a drink being poured brought his attention back to the counter, where a cup filled with hot tea was right in front of him.

“Dandelions, right?” She smiled, to which he replied in kind.

“Usually, you _ask_ customers if they want to order before serving something, Sylvie. What if I didn’t have money?”

She shrugged. “Then it’d be on the house.”

He took a tentative sip of his tea. It warmed him up instantly. He looked at the light blond inn owner, feeling fuzzy with gratitude towards her.

“Not even all the loot I found in those treacherous ruins would be able to pay off your kindness, ma’am.” He said, cautiously drinking his beverage so he wouldn’t burn his throat.

“Think nothing of it, darling. We’ve known each other for this long. You’re already more than a regular customer. You’re practically family by now.” She said, heading towards the kitchen to get some more orders. “If you want something to eat, just call me, although this one probably won't be on the house, though.” She said playfully before vanishing behind the kitchen door. 

Ulysses drank his tea, enjoying the warmth from his drink and the saloon. Today was plain, although a pleasurable work day. Not many relics to find, but little to no monsters along the way to bother him. Considering the harsh winter, it surely must have been a blessing, for he is not good dealing with the cold and the shorter days surely didn’t help any further.

Calm as it may be though, he couldn’t help but feel the intense glare thrown at him from a few stools to his left.

Ulysses turned to the side, being greeted to a crooked elderly man with balding hair and an eyepatch on his right eye scowling at him.

There was something about that man beyond his looks and his glare that made him eerily discomforting.

Feeling very awkward, Ulysses swallowed hard and tried to break the ice. “... May I help you?”

The man’s scowl only worsened. “No, you certainly cannot, filthy grave robber.”

Ulysses was shocked by his venomous words. The day was going so well…

“Don’t think you can fool me, traveler. I worked way too long on the military apprehending crooks and I’d recognize those boots and ruined gloves anywhere. You’re just another prowler, trying to make a living of the dead’s belongings!” The mans spat his words, growing louder with each sentence.

Ulysses took a deep breath. “Sir, I-”

“You don’t get to excuse yourself, you sorry bastard! What kind of degenerate bothers picking up firearms for the selfish reason of raiding long lost temples and becomes a bounty hunter?” The man took his cane and hit Ulysses’s holster, dropping the handgun on the ground, making a loud noise, now drawing more than a few curious eyes to the whole drama.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Ulysses stood up from his stool. “The gun is not loaded, but if it were, a terrible accident could have happened here!” He yelled as he crouched to pick up the fallen handgun, only to the older man to smack Ulysses hand with his cane and kick the revolver away, causing some people to recoil away from the gun that slid across the floor close to them.

“All the more reason an impudent brat like you should have it! You don’t understand the responsibility a gun is!” He quickly smacks ulysses left arm. “You don’t respect the wishes of those long gone!” He smacks his right arm. “You talk back to your elderly!” Another smack. “Greedy!” Another smack. “Violent!” Another smack. “Inconsequential!” He tries to hit Ulysses with his cane, only to be intercepted by Ulysses, who is trembling in rage.

“I am **not** a prowler and I won’t be treated as such!” He harshly rips the cane off the man’s hands, staggering the elredly briefly.

“And above all else, you feign ignorance?!” The old man raised his hand, but instead of curling it in a fist or slapping him, he put his hand on his eyepatch. “Are you truly claiming you are not the one who did this to me?!” He ripped his eyepatch, showing an “x” covering his right eye. Ulysses recoiled at the all too familiar sight. Today was truly a terrible day.

“Oh, so you _do_ remember your sins, you scum! I still remember all those years ago when you sliced my right eye. I just never thought I’d find you here of all places. From an impudent brat to an impudent adult. Deplorable.”

The onlookers whispered among themselves, gossiping and wondering what was their story. Ulysses lost his bravado upon seeing a face so long forgotten in his past he thought he might never see it again, although as fate would have it, he was proven wrong, the scar in his aggressor’s face twisting his own mental scars of all those years long gone lost in less than virtuous ways.

“Oh, so that’s how it is? You find someone wanting you to own up for your actions and you clam shut?” The elder approached, making ulysses shrink in his own frame, before finally bowing.

“... I know what I did and I profusely apologize for it.” His voice was loud and mostly clear, although it wavered slightly. “I don’t claim to have been perfect before nor now and I cannot possibly undo all the harm to all of those I wronged years ago. All I ask of you… is that you find in your heart to forgive me.”

The whispering hushed. Everyone was looking at the man bowing his head to the unhappy elder, who seemed more outraged than before.

“You…. You…!!!” The older man’s voice trembled in pure rage and hatred.

**“You dare ask me for forgiveness after all those years and having done nothing about it? Are you daft?”** The man snarled and clenched his fist. “By law, I have the right to take your right eye for what you did to me. Do you realize that?”

A deathly silence permeates the room.

“... Yes. Even so... I profusely apologize.” Ulysses apologized once more, making the man visibly more angry.

The man slaps Ulysses. “STOP!” Another slap. “APOLOGIZING!” The man huffs briefly as ulysses slowly returns his hurt gaze towards the man in front of him. “Your apologies won’t fix my eye and won’t give me back the years this incident ruined. I don’t want your bows, your apologizes or your pitiful excuses. What I want is to get rid of the inconsequential brat that ruined my life!”

“If that’s what you want, then it’s already done!” Sylvia’s voice echoed from the counter, accompanied by four tall men.

The old man looked at her confused by her statement. “What do you mean, innkeeper? This business is between me and this rogue!”

Sylvia crossed her arms impatiently. “Stop this ruckus before I throw you out of my establishment! The one standing before you is not the person that took your right eye.”

Irritating himself once more, the man brashly waved his arm in her direction and stared at her menacingly, to which the men accompanying her did not seem pleased with. “What is this nonsense?! He even confessed to the crime! He’s as guilty as they come and should be punished accordingly!”

Sylvia slammed her fist on the table, causing some people to recoil, although the man did not even flinch. “Can’t you see? The one who took your eye away is gone! The boy who took your eye gave way to the grown man standing in front of you-” She gestures towards Ulysses, who’s rubbing his red cheeks, still bowing. “-Who deeply regrets harming you and is putting up with your abuse in an attempt to get you to accept his apologies!”

The man recoiled at her words, but upon a quick glance around the room, he noticed that the onlookers were now standing up, circling them looking at him very angrily.

“All you did to him was abuse him physically and verbally and he did not even raise a hand against you aside from stopping your cane, while his face is still swollen from your aggressions. I suggest you apologize, forgive the boy and move on. Otherwise, you know where the front door is.” Sylvia said, gesturing to the exit. The tall men behind her cracked their knuckles accordingly.

The man found himself at a loss for a brief moment, his face still red and veins seemingly about to burst at a second’s notice, but he did not utter a single word, instead settled on glaring at Ulysses as he picked up his coat, slammed some money on the counter and started walking away, ignoring everyone else around him.

“This will never be over.” were his final words spat at Ulysses as he slammed the door closed.

…

Silence hung in the air for a short moment, but everyone seemingly instantly returned to their places, save for Ulysses who was still a bit shocked with the entire thing.

However, the sound of fingers snapping brought him back to reality.

“Ulysses? Earth to Ulysses! Come on, big guy, your tea is getting cold.” Sylvia pointed to the teacup, which had been refilled without he even noticing. He also glanced around to look for the four burly men that tagged along her that almost seemed to have vanished in thin air.

“Wha- I…”

Ulysses had no time to organize his thoughts because he was firmly pushed back to his stool and Sylvia already was back at work again, taking orders and ordering her assistant around. He could not believe what had just unfolded right before his eyes.

“Sylvie.” He meekly called her attention. She turned around in a second, smiling like nothing ever happened. 

“Yes, deary?”

Ulysses took a deep breath and smiled at her wistfully. “I just wanted to say… Thank you. For everything.”

“Don’t mention it. I know you’d do the same for me, right?” She gleefully replied, as she prepared a piping hot cup of coffee and added sugar cubes to it quite liberally.

“Of course!” He replied unhesitant. “It’s just…”

Sylvia gave the cup of coffee to her assistant, who was already struggling to carry two silver trays with 4 cups in each and walked around the counter to sit besides Ulysses to give him full attention. “What is it?”

He rubbed his neck, feeling awkward. “...I’m sorry for all the problems I brought. I did some pretty bad things back in the day and… I guess some of them are going to haunt me for quite a while, if not forever. And because of me, this place had to deal with my drama. I-”

He was interrupted by a pat on his head. She stroked his hair softly. “Uly… I know I don’t know what happened in your past.” She stopped herself for a brief moment. “... And how little sense the previous sentence makes.” She giggled at herself. “But it is true. I know there are a lot of things about you I don’t know and, now, more than ever, I know you were quite the colorful individual.”

Ulysses shrank in his seat briefly, shame getting the best of him.

“But I know for a fact you’re someone worth having over. If not for the many times you helped me, the postcards you’d send from your travels or just how happy you seem to be when you do visit, then because you’re willing to face your past like you just did today.”

He then raised his head once more to see her smiling at him, oddly reminding him of how his mother would look at him when he was much younger.

“You’re already family, Uly. Even if you made some mistakes in your past, I don’t care. WE don’t care.” She said, pointing at the staff through the kitchen door window. “We love you all the same and want to see you well, Ulysses.”

“Sylvie…” Ulysses was at a complete loss of words. Sylvia got up before he could organize his thoughts, kissed him on the top of his head and went back to work.

He sat still for a moment, looking at the warm beverage in front of him, lovingly brewed by someone who might as well be his second mother. The gentle chatter slowly rang back in his ears and he turns around to find the customers happily eating their food and laughing at each other, sharing their stories or snuggling closer to the fireplace. People who, while curious onlookers at first, all stood up for him in his greatest time of need.

He realized that not only they all stood up for him, but he knew them. Some from a few odd jobs recovering lost trinkets or escorting someone through the fields to kind acquaintances he made when going to eat a nice meal after a long day of work.

They were not strangers.

They were his family he built without ever realizing it.

Fighting back his tears, he sipped his tea and gently placed the cup back on the counter, before brazenly raising his arm.

“Sylvia! Bring me your best omelets!” He excitedly ordered, excitement barely concealed with his joyous expression, as the dandelion’s smell lingered in the air and the brew’s warmth permeated through his being.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed this story. Unlike most of my work, this is little to no biographical influence, instead being inspired by a song from the MOTHER soundtrack: Snowman. Having written this in one day, I'm glad to see I'm returning to form.


End file.
